Seven Ways to Be a Successful Beginner

Sometimes starting is the hardest thing to do. If you feel that your age, responsibilities or lack of immediate fitness make it just too difficult to get on the exercise road again, think again and bear the following in mind…

JUST START! Everyone starts somewhere, and it takes only one thing to get you on the road to more movement and a better life. That one thing might be as easy as scheduling an exercise session in your diary, just as you would a doctor’s appointment. When you work out with niix, all you need to do is make time for yourself. It’s that simple – and the results will genuinely amaze you.

MAKE IT SPECIAL Don’t exercise in old gardening clothes. The time you spend looking after your body and mind is a unique thing. Get a set of active wear that makes you feel good and make these your go to work out clothes. When those items are on, it’s time to focus.

IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG Remember that this is not a trek to John O’Groats! Exercise actually doesn’t take very much time – you’re probably spending more hours thinking about how you don’t really want to work out. The government recommendations 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate aerobic activity per week, in bouts of around 10 minutes or more.

FIND THE REWARDS Every exercise newcomer must find something that’s cool about what they’re doing. Find what you love about exercising – whether it’s getting those previously tight trousers zipped up or loving the strength you’re beginning to feel in your legs and arms. Whatever it is, focusing on what you love will make you want to exercise better and more.

BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR FIRST SESSION Looking and feeling better won’t happen overnight, but it will happen quickly. You didn’t gain weight or consider yourself unfit overnight, so you won’t “fix” everything overnight either. But you will see differences incredibly quickly. Within a week, you’ll start to feel better, look better and have more energy. As Joseph Pilates said, ‘after 10 sessions you’ll feel the difference, in 20 you will see the difference and in 30 you’ll have a new body!’

THE MORNING AFTER… A day or two after your first workout you might feel sore; that’s normal. This is how the body adapts to becoming fitter, stronger and working better: with better circulation, clearer skin, eyes and brain function. So if you’re a little sore, it’s a badge of success. You can also revel in the fact that you’ve finally got around to looking after yourself – a major achievement in itself.

GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK If you feel you just don’t have time to exercise, there is another good reason to make sure you do: we all need to escape and to let our emotions as well as our minds cool down. Exercising allows you to do this, and also helps brain and body function. Exercise isn’t just something we do, it’s also something we need.